Cadillac 429 rebuild

So a mate of mine gave me a Caddy 429 (7.03L) in exchange for £145 and a couple of TIG lessons.

We're dropping this into the series! It has the original rad too which is going to have to be rear mounted but that does mean I can hook up the heater matrix a little easier too!


Its a light rebuild, new top end gaskets as the old one had a split between the combustion chamber and exhaust so it was sucking in a little at idle but revved up fine. I'm making up some stainless manifolds as the old exhaust ones were buggered and got scrapped a while back.

So far we've measured up the adaptor plates and made up some engine brackets, be a bit more next week once my new Fel-Pro gaskets arrive but til then heres some pics

Just been offered a second one of these for £200 was fully running all its now missing is a carb.......

Rather tempted I must say

Tremendous.

However i refuse to be impressed until it is cleaned and painted!

I'll be painting the front end black but the rest is just going to be left dirty, the rocker covers are chrome cadillac ones which I'll be lacquering and re doing the red lettering on

I've also got a big stainless air ram for it the kind with three ports!

Are you for real? why are you not cleaning to block?

tbh it looks like it might want bead blasting...

I'm not one for cleaning stuff that doesn't need cleaned we're going to repaint the sump and make it nicer looking but it'll be way off show condition thats for sure!

We want this in the vehicle within the next few weeks before the weather gets real bad so just doing the minimal cleaning we can.....I'm going to clean the heads and block faces up with some petrol and a soft cloth and then paint the front end as it looks a bit ratty but you wont see the rest so it can stay a bit dirty

Mr Noisy said:

tbh it looks like it might want bead blasting...

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Not worth it on a non concourse build IMO, plus the oil n grime will help stop it from rusting!

bleurgh, dont agree, if you clean and paint every component before it goes back in then before too long youve got everything in good shape

pity to hear your decision on that, without the cleaning and painting it will not have the visual impact a 7 litre series deserves.

in fact you will probably get people coming over for a look and being disappointed...

In fairness the rest of the vehicle is dented and poorly painted, it'll be more like a rat rod style I suppose


But if we do have time and once its back together we may look into cleaning it down with some degreaser and painting the entire block with matte black BBQ paint as I've got a tub of that knocking about. I was toying with the idea but then thought screw it I want this in the series ASAP!

Will see how it goes as I've obviously got to wait for the new gaskets to turn up so could potentially clean it up a little tomorrow afternoon with a wire brush and some wet/dry

It's not difficult to get it looking presentable with a wire wheel and some degreaser, then just slap the paint over it, polish the rockers and carb and you're done

Dr_evil said:

Just been offered a second one of these for £200 was fully running all its now missing is a carb.......

Rather tempted I must say

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Buy the second one then and give this one the rebuild it deserves

robbh said:

Buy the second one then and give this one the rebuild it deserves

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Let somebody else do it!!

Mr Noisy said:

It's not difficult to get it looking presentable with a wire wheel and some degreaser, then just slap the paint over it, polish the rockers and carb and you're done

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Ok ok deal

robbh said:

Buy the second one then and give this one the rebuild it deserves

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This one will get a turbo and a blow through carb I think! Got a free VNT garret turbo off him too

Dr_evil said:

Ok ok deal


This one will get a turbo and a blow through carb I think! Got a free VNT garret turbo off him too

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in a series????

lol...look i run 400hp in a rot free rrc...roll cage etc...

it pops the doors open!!(well not now i have elecy dead locks,,but)

done 7 gearboxs!....and you gonna turbo a 7l!!!

the series will twist itself in half!!you will die!

what gearbox you gonna fit?there is no series biox that will cope with the n/a 7l..(see done 7 gearboxs)

half shafts??what you gonna use??diffs??

i am all for maddness but its gonna cost you!!i am not prepared to even think how much sally has cost me to make reliable...!!

Yeah we're adding in braces to the chassis and a cage, gearbox is going to be an LT95

Front axle is free wheeling, rear axle is dana based

braces in chassis wont no difference..check the physics..still ladder frame,still twist..
space frame!!!

dana good though..

wheelie bars??(not actually kidding)

my i recomend hydroboost brake servo..i can actually get stoppies in the dry..

oh feck off the blow though carb and go injection with ms ecu...

spit my coffee and PMSL............:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi

you drop out of school?

Bracing a chassis makes a lot of difference :doh: they increase its rigidity for a start therefore it can deal with more torsion.....why do you think formula cars are essentially built on a web like design!?

Wheelie bars just no

Hydro boost again no as I'm using a disco set up

Injection....I did toy with using two sets of 3.5 injection set ups to make it up to 7.0 but far too much effort to bother with ATM

well dare i say i'm 'interested' to see how this one goes!